I Dare You
by HeatherJS
Summary: When a charming, audacious Xena walks into the God of War's temple, Ares makes a discovery that he had long given up on ever finding in a set of bright expressive blue eyes.


It was a day like any other day, the birds were casually singing their pleasant-sounding tunes, little bunnies dashed around as they playfully chased after each other and the warm crisp breeze was blowing through the trees, making them sway in an almost rhythmic dance. It was a peaceful setting as the sun started to make its slow descent from the sky, one that appeared impossible to disrupt by any other type of outside force…There was nothing out of the ordinary in that nonviolent scenery, nothing with the exception of the looming dark temple that sat in the center of it all.

In a short distance from the building, a pair of innocent bright blue eyes were admiring the view, gazing up at the forbidden temple when in fact she should have been making her way back to the village. The eight years old Xena could never quite grasp what it was about its illegalness that made her come back time and time again to this clearing and stare at it for hours. Although it was fairly dangerous to have gotten that close to this specific temple, she didn't feel like she was going to be in any type of peril when she ventured there almost every day. She would just get hypnotized by its presence and there have been plenty of times when she had sat on that very log, debating with herself on whether or not she should travel the small distance through the trees and actually look upon it with nothing blocking her view.

But like always, she somehow managed to talk herself out of taking those steps once more, fearing that if she had actually gone through with it and saw it up close then it would take away the mystery of its daunting presence. It was nothing but a bunch of stone, she knew that, but it was who the temple was dedicated to that made it all the more interesting in her little mind. **The God of War**... there was just something about him that made her tiny little body fill with excitement whenever she thought about this certain Olympian. She didn't understand what those feelings were but they had kept her coming back to this place time and time again, secretly hoping, while she made the journey from her home, but not really knowing what it was that she was expecting as her travels always seemed to stop at the same spot. Not one day would pass without a silent promise to herself that soon, very soon, she was going to find the courage to walk all the way to his temple and go inside and find out if these foolish fantasies that were constantly whirling in her head, were true or not.

A few feet away from Xena, hidden behind a few bushes were a small group of village children were watching her as she sat alone with her thoughts. This bunch was not fond of the little raven haired girl and they always thought that she was just plain weird. She always stuck out from the others and her liking to engage in more of the wooden sword play had made her disliked by the ones she would beat.

"What is she doing?" one of the little blonde haired boys inquired.

"It looks like she is just stupid…. Staring off at nothing." a red haired girl had offered up and the group laughed noisily at her conclusion.

The giggles of the other small children immediately disturbed Xena's blessed peace, and, once they reached her ears, she cocked her head a little to the side at the sound of it. She sighed out softly to herself, not even in the peaceful serenity of the place that was her solace could she be left alone. They had to intrude on her, even here, how did they find her anyway she wondered.

"Hey Xena, whatcha' doing?"

She rolled her eyes at the annoying voice and turned around to face her new, unwanted companions.

"Nothing that your far, too narrow minded brains could understand, Alyssa." she cunningly retorted and smiled as the red haired girl couldn't realize that she had just insulted her.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure it's stupid anyway. You're not supposed to be here. We're not supposed to go this far from the village or be near **this** temple." she cleverly threw out, thinking that she had just said the most amazing thing to crush her spirit.

"Then why are **you** here?"

The little red haired girl didn't have a response to that question. She didn't think that Xena was going to be questioning her for her reasons for being out there, not when in fact she had been the one to catch her in the act. She had actually imagined that the raven haired girl was going to beg her to not tell that they had found her there. She saw the satisfied smile that began to tug at Xena's lips before she turned away from them and proceeded to ignore them. Who did the little witch think she was, how dare she think that she could just be rude like that and then go back to staring at that stupid building, as if they weren't even there.

"If you like looking at that silly hunk of stone so much, why don't you go inside already?"

"It's not silly!" Xena quickly exclaimed as she turned back to look at her, "It's a temple, a temple for the God of War, one of the twelve!"

"He's just a murderous God, my father said so." she snobbishly bit back, like that was all the reason in the world to believe something.

"Take it back!"

"No, and if you like to spend so much time in that company, why don't you spend the night in that temple?"

Xena's eyes grew wide at her words, that was unheard of. It was one thing for her to sit there and look at it from a safe distance but to actually spend the night in that temple….It was unconceivable!

"Are you **scared**?" the red haired girl mocked

"I'm not scared!" she quickly retorted, she wasn't really, it was just that she had never spent a night away from home before but she wasn't about to back down from a challenge.

"Then I dare you! Spend the night in your precious War God's temple."

Xxxxxx

For a few minutes, little Xena just stood at the bottom of the steps, looking at the marble stone. She glanced up to the doors but they seemed so far away, and the stairs looked like they just went on forever. She glanced over to the trees where the others were standing, anxiously waiting for her to go inside. She shivered a little, it was starting to get colder as the sun was almost completely set, or was it something else that was making her shiver, and she looked back up to the overwhelming doors in front of her. Cautiously, she placed her left foot on the bottom step and then quickly stood up on it. She stood there for a moment and then slowly made her way up the rest of the steps and stopped once she reached the door. She took a deep breath and reached up and took a hold of the handle and pulled the door open and swiftly stepped into the temple that had been haunting her dreams for so long.

The door clanged loudly behind her and she froze, listening for any type of movement of someone who was going to come and check who had just entered the War God's temple. Not hearing anything out of the ordinary, she unhurriedly made her way further into the temple, small torches hung on the wall lightening her path as she started to head down a small corridor. She wasn't sure where she was walking to, but something told her feet to keep moving and so she did, going deeper and deeper into the labyrinth of endless hallways. As she continued to walk, Xena thought that maybe she should be looking for a decent enough place to rest her head for the night and where she wouldn't get caught by someone who would quickly toss her out. She pushed opened a few doors and although they looked decent enough, something told her to keep going.

She finally arrived in front of a dark wooden door and slowly pushed it open and her small little mind took in what she was seeing. It was an enormous room, filled with all different types of weapons and tapestries' along the wall and in the middle of it sat a huge ebony throne. She moved further into the room and started to look around it some, she walked over to the small altar that was set up against the far wall and ran her hand against the silk fabric of the material that covered the table that was next to it. The table contained different types of items, some she recognized and some she didn't. She realized that these were offerings to the War God and she got an idea. She had always wanted to make an offering to the God of War and a small smile started to form on her face as she thought about how this was going to be her first of many offerings that she would bestow to the Olympian.

But soon her soft small slowly faded while she wondered what she was going to give him. She wanted her first offering to be something special, something that he would remember and stick out from all the rest but she had been unprepared for this and she had nothing to give him. A light frown formed on her face…after months and months of staring at the temple she had finally managed to get herself inside and she didn't even have a proper offering to lay upon his altar. There had to have been something she could offer, and it didn't take too long until her soft sapphire eyes quickly scanned the area for something that would be a worthy enough gift. She was starting to lose hope as all she saw were torches and weapons much too heavy for her to lift or reach. She couldn't believe that her first time in the War God's temple would result in her leaving nothing for him. How was she suppose to show him what a great and loyal warrior she was going to be if her first attempt at allegiance resulted in her showing up there empty handed? Her blue moons searched the area again frantically and soon her eyes landed on a small bouquet of blood red roses, sitting off in the distance behind a pillar, almost as if someone had hidden them there.

She quickly headed over to them and picked one simple rose out of the various ones. It wasn't much but it was going to have to do on such short notice. She had pricked her finger on one of the thorns on the stem of the rose and she swiftly brought her thumb up and stuck it in her mouth. She forgot that roses had thorns and she looked down at the flower and saw the small amount of blood, her blood that was now slightly running down it. Xena got an idea then and she placed her injured finger back against one of the thorns and pressed it into her flesh. She winced from the sting as the thorn dug into her skin and more blood began to trickle down the side of the rose. She gently pulled the thorn out once she was satisfied that her offering had now been enough.

Xena hurriedly walked back over to the War Gods altar and stood there for a moment before she gently reached up and placed her offering upon it.

"With this offering, God of War, I honor the."

As she set the rose down on the smooth marble surface, more blood dripped from her finger and splashed against the surface of the altar. She stepped back from the table, pleased with what she was able to offer the Olympian. She looked around the room some more and figured this would be a good enough place to stay for the night. No one was going to come in there at that late hour and find her since there was no reason for someone to be making offerings at night. She looked around for some place that she could sleep on; there was no furniture in the room at all. The only other object in the room besides the altar was the gigantic throne and she was wary of using that as her bed for the night.

Not having a lot of other options and seeing that it was more than likely ok, since no one was really going to know that she had used it, she slowly made her way over to the War God's throne. She stood in front of it for a few moments, running her eyes over it, and then she carefully climbed into it. It was huge and her tiny body barely even covered half of its surface as she sat there. She yawned, not realizing how exhausted she really was, and she rubbed at her tired eyes and she softly moved to lie down. She nestled herself into the seat, curling her body into herself tightly, even though she had more than enough space to stretch out but she had no blanket and the surface of the throne was cold. Languidly, her eyes began to close and soon Morpheus won the battle over her mind and she drifted off to sleep.

Xxxxxxx

"How did this happen?!" the War God yelled out angrily as he grabbed his pathetic excuse of a nephew by the throat and lifted him off of the ground.

"Now, Unc..." he choked out as Ares' grip on him tightened even more when he tried to speak, "... could you... just loosen... your hold... just a bit."

"No!"

"Ok... forget... I asked."

"You had one job Strife,** one** and you still couldn't even do that properly."

"It wasn't my... fa-fault." he gasped out when somehow a grip that he already thought was tight enough had become even tighter.

"And how did you figure that?" Ares replied angrily, and, not getting a response right away he just squeezed more to get the little worm to talk. Instead, Strife desperately pointed at his neck, signaling to the War God that he was holding him too tight for him to give him an answer. He loosened his hold some but did not let go of him as he continued to dangle him in the air.

"Thank you..." he coughed out, once he felt the air return to his lungs again, "You see, I was all set..."

But whatever he was about to say faded from Ares' mind when he felt a tugging from an offering in one of his temples. He could pick up on what type of offering it was since, it was actually rarer than one would think when it came to the God of War, it was a blood offering. But it wasn't just any blood, it was innocent blood, a child's blood and that caught his attention immediately. Yes, he was cold and ruthless but he wasn't that ruthless as to approve of a child's blood being spilled in his name just to gain some sort of favor in his temple. He didn't give it another thought as he went quickly through the ether to see who had been the one to leave him such an offering.

As soon as he materialized in his throne room that had the offering he tossed aimlessly Strife away from himself. The underling had landed at the base of his throne and laid there sprawled out on the steps. Ares looked around the room for a moment and saw no sign of the person who could have left this particular offering and he moved his eyes to his altar, naturally expecting to see the body of a slain child but what he saw confused him beyond words. Instead of what he had anticipated, he came to find a single red rose lying on the shiny surface of the marble top. A bewildered look came across his face as he slowly made his way to it…Who would bring the God of War flowers? That was certainly not the typical offering one would make to the feared Olympian and he looked down at it with a puzzled expression on his face.

After careful inspection, he picked up the lone rose and noticed the faint sign of the blood that was now starting to dry on the stem. He could see the fresh blood that was still on the altar too and he ran his finger against the crimson liquid and brought it up so he could look at it more closely. This blood was indeed pure, it had not yet been tainted with evil or hatred and it seemed that it had been given willingly. That thought made him even more confused of who had been the one to leave him such a gift?

In the meantime, Strife was slowly pulling himself up from where his uncle had so carelessly tossed him. He carefully sat at the base of his throne, with his back to the chair, trying not to catch Ares' attention as he watched him carefully studying a rose. He wondered what it was that was so fascinating about it, it was only a flower and it was not like the War God had never seen one before. He couldn't figure it out to save his life and the expression that was on the Olympian's face only confused his mind even more and in the end he gave up on trying to figure it out. He stretched lazily and then he started to get up from his position on the floor. He shifted himself some to the side and was going to use the armrests to help hoist himself up when he suddenly stopped.

What in Tartarus was that? It was just lying there in his uncle's throne, unmoving; it seemed to him as if it was almost asleep. He couldn't believe that there was something, **whatever** it was, in that throne. Ares had harmed countless others for even thinking about touching his throne but yet there it was, this tiny bundle lying in a heap on it. Did he get a pet, was that it? He was actually now a little jealous of the War God's new pet, he had never allowed him to sit in his throne! What made this creature have the right to do it? He poked at the small being and it was soft to the touch and it flinched suddenly from the contact. He retracted his hand as if the unknown creature would suddenly attack him.

"Hey Unc, when did you get a pet?"

Ares immediately sighed out loudly, what was the idiot talking about? He turned around to face him and saw him squatting in front of his throne, gazing at something intently. From what he could make out from over his shoulder there seemed to be something lying there. What could possibly be on his throne? He started to walk over to his nephew and saw him poke at whatever it was roughly and the small bundle moved. As he reached them the War God recognized the figure for what it was, it was child, a girl child, and that intrigued him. What was a child doing in his temple and on his throne of all places?

Having been jabbed in the ribs again, Xena slowly opened her eyes. She looked around wildly for a moment, forgetting where she was and then came to stare at this ghastly looking thing, if she could even call it that. His face, she thought it was a he, was practically mere inches from hers and she shrank back from the unknown person until she came into contact with the back of the throne.

"I think it likes me!" Strife exclaimed cheerfully to his uncle and Ares just rolled his eyes at his stupidity.

"Give her some room, Strife." Ares told him coldly and roughly pulled him back by the collar from the frightened child, "You're scaring her."

"I'm not scared!" Xena replied quickly, "I just don't know what it is."

She moved her gaze from the man that was right in front of her and moved it to the voice that had spoken and looked up to see, what was to her, a rather cute looking guy. A pair of innocent blue met a pair of fierce brown and they both held each other's eyes intently. Ares was a bit taken aback by the sudden feeling that had come over him as he gazed at this child. He had never felt that before and he wondered what it was about this child that had brought that feeling on. He felt as if he wanted to protect her.

Seeing that they seemed rather occupied with each other, Strife causally moved his hand to the hem of the creatures skirt to inspect it more closely. But as soon as he had touched the fabric, the small being slapped- with impressive force one might add- his hand away from her.

"Don't touch me!" Xena hissed out angrily, as mean as she could for an eight year old.

"Hey, it's not nice to hit people. Can I kill her, Unc, can I?" he asked excitedly and didn't even wait for an answer as he made a small fireball appear in his hand. He leaned in closer to the girl and immediately got slapped across the face viciously by her and he ended up pulling back from Xena.

"What did I say?!" he pouted as he rubbed against his cheek and then made the fireball grow bigger.

Xena's eyes flashed for a moment to the War God and although he had seen the brave front she was putting on, he easily remarked the hint of fear that was behind those sapphire eyes of hers despite the fact that she was hiding it very well. The unexpected feeling grew again and, without hesitation, Ares brutally grabbed Strife by the throat and picked him up and launched him clear across the room. He collided viciously with the wall and slid down to the floor, a mangled mess. Xena looked at the protective man that now stood in front of her, she could feel his anger for the other person rolling off of him in waves and her small body shuddered from the feeling. But she did not tremble out of fear; she actually liked the powerful feeling that was coming from her savior.

"Leave, now!" Ares growled out venomously and a fireball of his own formed in his hand.

Taking the hint, because he knew what was awaiting him if he did not heed his warning, Strife quickly vanished from his spot on the floor. He did not want to spend the rest of eternity in pieces.

Once the pathetic excuse for a God had left, Ares made the fireball disappear and he turned around to face the small child. She was just staring up at him, studying him as if she was trying to figure something out and he didn't like the way this child was scrutinizing him. He placed his hands on either side of his throne and leaned in close to this girl child, bringing his face leveled with hers. They both just stared at each other, silently examining what was in front of them, gauging the other to see who was going to be the one to waver. There was no fear in her eyes, they actually held rebellion in them and he smirked from this tiny child's boldness as she stared him down.

"Are you afraid of me?" Ares asked, as he searched her eyes for any hint of alarm.

"No." came her murmured reply.

He knew her words to be truthful for he could detect no deceit in them and he chuckled softly. Grown hardened warlords had cowered before him in fear of what his wrath could do to them and yet there it was, a small girl child, showing more fight than any of them.

"What's your name?" he inquired as he sat down on the armrest of his throne. He thought it was odd that he didn't just toss the little sprout out and reclaim what was rightfully his.

Xena just shifted very subtly away from him, as much as the space in the throne would allow her. She wasn't afraid of him but she wasn't going to let him get too close to her either. It was better to keep her distance from this man, he may have helped her out a bit but she felt confident that she could have handled the situation on her own, she really didn't need his help.

"I don't talk to strangers." she simply stated and turned her head away from him and proceeded to ignore him as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Ah, I see." he studied the small child for a moment more and then got up from the throne, " I'm Ares, God of War…So who might you be, my lovely lady." he asked as he slightly bowed to her.

She watched his movements with rapt attention, slightly blushing a little when he called her **his lovely**. Her eyes grew wider when the meaning of his words finally hit her. His name, he had said that he was the God of War. Her heart started hammering against her tiny chest at the implication of those words, but why was he there?

"You're really Ares?" she asked him in wonderment, moving slightly closer to him.

"The one and only."

He was fascinated with this small child, one second she was being all guarded but the moment she had found out who he was it was like a spark had went off in her mind. He had seen the flash of joy that had come across her eyes and now she looked at him as if she had found some great treasure. Well, he did know himself to have that kind of effect on the ladies, apparently that included even the smaller females.

"Why are you here?"

"Well, this is my temple, isn't it?"

Xena shook her head slightly at her own foolishness; of course he would be in his own temple, where else could he be? But why this temple out of all the countless other ones she knew he had, did he accept her offering? Her bright excited blue eyes swiftly looked over to the altar where she had placed her humble offering to the War God and saw that the rose was still there. The joy soon faded from her face at seeing that he did not accept her offering. What did she expect really, one did not bring flowers to the God of War and she had just been foolish in thinking that it was an acceptable enough gift to bestow upon him. She chastised herself for giving him such a lame gift, her first chance to show him that she was going to be a devoted warrior had back fired. How was she going to make up for that stupid offering? He wasn't going to take her seriously now, how could he when she was laying roses on his altar instead of something that was more worthy of the God of War?

Ares had seen the sadness that started to seep into those cerulean eyes of hers and he didn't like that look. He carefully followed her gaze to see what it was that she was looking at that had caused her sudden change in demeanor and noticed the rose lying on his altar. Why was she upset about the rose, it was just an offering that someone had left him, nothing that would cause her to feel sad about it. Then it clicked for him, he could feel the pureness that was radiating off of this tiny child and he recognized it from the same essence that he had picked up from the blood that was on the rose. This child had given him this rose and she had shed her blood to him. Not even his most devoted warriors had ever thought of such symbolic gesture before, and yet this girl child had willingly offered it to him. With a wave of his hand, he made the rose vanish from his altar and reappear in his hand.

"This is a lovely offering..." he said as he spun the rose lightly between his fingers, "... is it from you?"

Xena just gazed up at him wonderingly as he held her offering in his hand. She didn't know what to say…She had been obviously wrong…He had actually taken notice of her gift. She soon realized that he was waiting for an answer but the words just didn't seem to want to come out of her mouth and she just nodded her head in response.

"Do I get the honor of knowing the name of the person who left such a special offering?"

"Xe- Xena." she murmured out softly as her eyes were transfixed with his auburn ones.

"**Xena**... What a lovely name for a fair young maiden." he told her and then gently ran his fingers down the side of her cheek.

She shivered from the contact and then blushed and quickly turned her head away from him. The way he had said her name, she didn't know how to describe it and then he touched her. That simple caress had exhilarated her entire being and the sensations running through her body confused her, she had never felt anything like that before and her tiny mind did not understand fully what it meant. The next thing she knew, a stunning red rose had slowly been lowered in front of her and she looked at it rather shocked. She looked back up at the War God and saw that he was offering her a rose of her own. She didn't know what to think, she had never heard anything of a God giving a mortal a gift and she just stared at it in amazement.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful girl."

Xena reached hesitantly for the rose but soon stopped and retracted her hand. Ares looked at her a bit puzzled by her reaction. Did she not want his gift?

"Do you not like it?" he asked and withdrew the rose from her.

"It's gorgeous..." Xena quickly replied, not wanting him to think that she was denying his gift, "... it's just, roses have thorns and they hurt." she looked down at her injured finger, seeing the blood that was still there from when she had unwisely gripped the deadly flower too tight.

Ares had seen the small gash on her finger where she must have jabbed herself with the thorn of the rose she had given him. He watched as she lightly ran her small finger against her wound and by her agitating the area, a small amount of blood began to flow from the cut. He curled a finger under her chin and gently tilted her face back up to meet his.

"My dear Xena, you will never have to worry about any thorns with this one."

He offered her the rose again and she cautiously took it from his grasp, as if she was reluctant to trust his judgment and would only get stabbed again. The War God took a hold of her injured finger and then squatted down in front of her. He gently ran his finger over her wound and then he pressed his lips against the tender area and when he pulled back the slightly red swollen area was no more and it was completely healed.

Xena was too surprised that he had given her a kiss to realize what it was that he had actually done. She couldn't believe it, the God of War had kissed her. Never in a million years would she have thought of something like that happening. How often did one get kissed by a God? She slowly pulled her hand back from him and held it to her chest, she felt like she wanted to treasure it forever. It was not likely that she was ever going to get one from him again.

"What are you doing here?" he inquired while he watched the little raven haired girls face light up from his simple gesture. She intrigued him, how could something so small and innocent show no fear in the face of imminent danger when, for all she knew, she could have been killed the moment he had shown up with that pathetic excuse for a God he called a nephew from time to time. She had been a tiny little spit fire when Strife tried to get closer to her then she wanted him to and now she was all aglow as if the best thing in the world had just happened. He actually liked the smile that he was able to put on her face, it stirred something in him and a small voice in his head told him that he never wanted to see sadness on that face.

"Umm... it was a dare." she mumbled out lowly.

"**A dare**?"

"Yeah, the other kids in my village, they all know that we are supposed to stay away from your temple, that it is dangerous to get too close to it and that you're only asking for trouble if you venture to close to it." she told him keenly, seeing that she seemed to have peeked his interest, "Anyway, there is a small clearing not too far from here that I like to visit and they found me there. I'm no wimp and I agreed to stay here throughout the night."

"But won't your parents be worried?"

"Oh, yeah... I guess I really didn't think that part all the way through." Xena replied as she realized that when she got home she was going to be in a lot of trouble. She knew she couldn't tell her mother that she had spent the whole night in the God of War's temple, which was just going to make everything worse since she wasn't even supposed to go anywhere near it.

"What makes you think that I will let you stay here anyway?" Ares questioned, he wasn't running an inn there, after all.

"You just are." Xena quickly bit back, she wasn't going to let him throw her out.

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are." she told him with certainty, "I am going to be a great warrior for you some day, your very best warrior and I need to get used to being in this place."

"My best warrior, really? And why would I choose you as my best warrior?" he couldn't believe the guts she had, the way she was so sure of herself and of what he was going to do.

"It's your loss if you don't. I'm already very skilled with a sword, well ….wooden ones, but it won't be long now until I get my hands on a real one and plus I've already beaten all the boys in my village. They don't stand a chance against me!" she proudly stated.

"Why should I believe you? You're only a girl." he goaded, seeing the small flame of anger that formed in her eyes as he doubted her. He was impressed, she had fight and determination shining in those blue eyes of hers, and he could tell that she was going to prove him wrong.

Xena pushed against his chest roughly so she could get off of his throne and moved away from him. The nerve he had, he didn't even know what he was talking about, she was going to be a great warrior, one of the best and she was going to show him what he was going to be missing out on. She quickly scanned the room for something that she could use so he could see what he was never going to have. Her eyes landed on a dagger that was sitting on top of a table near the altar and she figured that it was going to have to do and she swiftly made her way over to it.

Ares watched her actions intently, waiting to see what she was going to do. He made himself at home on his throne as he settled himself in it and casually draped a leg over the armrest as he waited. She had picked up a sacrificial dagger from his altar table and he was curious to see what she was going to do with it. At first, she just stood there with her back to him and he wasn't very much impressed but then she turned around and glared at him.

"I need an opponent." she told him annoyed and folded her arms across her chest and just tapped her foot impatiently against the marble floor while she waited for him to give her what she wanted.

The War God smiled big at her audacity of ordering him around. He thought it was strange that he actually liked it and decided to grant his fiery little warrior's wish. He thus waved his hand slightly and he made a hologram of a similar in height warrior appear before her.

"You can't very well fight with a dagger now, can you?"

With a snap of his fingers a sword appeared at her feet, an amazingly crafted blade that was just the right length and weight so she could wield it properly.

Xena tried not to let the shock of someone just appearing out of nowhere show on her face and she just narrowed her eyes at him and then looked to the blade at her feet, thinking that it was actually a nice looking sword and she stuck the dagger into the sash around her waist and bent down and picked up the weapon he had offered her.

She turned her focus to her new foe and got ready to defend herself. She was going to show him that he was wrong in doubting her.

No sooner had she gotten herself into position than her enemy attacked her and she quickly blocked his first strike against her. He was good but she figured that he was made that way since the War God was the one that had created him in the first place but she wasn't going to let that stop her. He may have been made to be undefeated but she was going to prove that she could beat anyone, even this pathetic illusion. She parried and struck against him with everything that she had and she even had him on the defense a few times throughout their squabble before he would push her back but he never got the upper hand for long.

With a lucky shot he swung his sword at her and she quickly jumped back out of the way and then he brought down his blade hard against hers when she brought hers up to block his blow. The collision of the two swords clashing together had been stronger then Xena thought it might have and her grip on her own blade faltered a little and it slipped from her grasp. She rolled away from him quickly and pulled the dagger from her waist and waited to see what his next move was going to be. He just stood there a few feet away from her before he charged at her and she swiftly stepped out of the way of his attack.

She expertly hit him with the hilt of her dagger and tripped him up and his stance staggered for a moment before he regained his footing. In the matter of an instant though, he was in front of her again and she blocked his swing with the dagger but despite her unbreakable focus, before she knew what was happening, he roughly pushed her arm away with his other hand and the dagger she was holding got jabbed into her arm and sliced it open.

She gasped out in pain and hastily dropped the dagger and placed her hand over her wound. It was bad and she knew it, she stepped back from her enemy and pulled her hand back a little from her cut, staring in awe at the blood that was just pouring out of it. Xena quickly clamped her hand back down over it and winced out from the force she had used.

Ares who had been watching the whole fight with great interest, thought that she was actually pretty good, a little more training and she was right, she could very well be the best. When he had heard her cry out in pain his alarms went off immediately though.

The blood that had started trickling down the temple floor when she had inspected her wound told him that it was a serious one and when the hologram he had manifested moved to strike against her again he quickly made it disappear. He got up from his throne and hurriedly walked over to her so he could take a look at the damage.

"Let me see." he told her once he closed in the distance between them.

"No, its fine, only a little scrape."

"Don't be foolish, let me see it." he told her again and reached to take a hold of her arm.

Xena quickly drew back from him and held her arm protectively to her chest, not wanting him to touch it. It hurt and she was fighting with herself not to cry in front of him and she looked up at the War God with wide tear covered eyes, struggling to keep them from falling as one rogue tear managed to break free and ran down her cheek. The pain she felt was making it a hard battle to win and the blood just didn't want to stop flowing and now she was genuinely scared of what was going to happen.

That look on her face had a huge impact on Ares and he didn't like that look at all. She was frightened and trying with everything that she had left to not fall apart in front of him. Why was she trying so hard to put on such a brave front? He knew she was in pain as another tear had fought its way free and the amount of blood she was losing was not good.

"Sweetheart..." he murmured out and crouched down in front of her and tenderly ran his fingers down her cheek, "... I can make the pain go away."

He kept his eyes locked with hers for a few moments and carefully reached for her arm again and pulled it closer to himself. He gently pried her hand off of her wound and looked down at it. It was a nasty gash and from what he could tell it was a little deep too, no wonder the blood kept coming.

"Don't touch it!" Xena said unsteadily when Ares had moved his hand closer to her cut and she retracted her arm from him.

"My Sweet, I will not cause you any more pain, I promise." he told her sincerely and moved his hand to brush a few tears off of her cheeks.

Xena just nodded her head faintly at his words and offered her arm to him again. Ares soon scooped her up into his arms and walked back over to his throne and sat down on it with her. He gently took a hold of her injured arm and looked at her wound again, the bleeding seemed to have slowed down but it could not continue to go untreated. He softly brushed his finger tips against the gash and she had winced slightly at the contact but then he looked up into her sapphire eyes. She sniffled a little as she continued to fight the flow of tears that wanted to be released. His little brave warrior... he reached up and softly ran his fingers through her raven hair and then leaned forward and place an innocent kiss against her forehead.

"Just keep your eyes on me my dear." he said as he leaned back from her and let his fingers glide across her cheek.

She shook her head slightly and kept her eyes locked on his face. Ares shifted his gaze to her wound for a moment and then looked back up at the unusually brave little girl and placed his hand over her gash. A blue light began to form from his hand as he began to heal her wound. A teary blue stared intently into a set of warm auburn eyes as she felt a strange warmth building on her arm. She wanted to look but his soft gaze was preventing her from taking her eyes off of his.

"That's it Darling, you're all better now…" he told her soothingly and brought his other hand up and smoothed back her hair.

After a few more moments, Ares had completely healed her wound and he brought his hand up and wiped away some more tears that she had allowed to escape. He leaned forward and placed another sweet kiss against her forehead.

Xena looked down at her arm and saw that her gash and the pain she had felt was completely gone and it looked like nothing had even happened since there was no scar left or any type of marking. She looked back up at him surprised and gave him a small smile through her last few sniffles. She finally let out a long yawn and then reached up to wipe the sleep from her eyes and the last few remaining tears.

"Someone's tired."

"I'm not tired... just a little worn out from kicking your projection's butt." she teasingly replied as she lazily nestled her head in the crook of his neck.

Ares just chuckled at her and he leaned back further into his throne with her, he thought her arrogance was so charming, especially coming from such a small being. Instinctively, he wrapped his arms around the tiny bundle he now held protectively in his arms as she snuggled up to him for warmth. They sat like that for a few minutes and Ares soon started to run his fingers through her raven tresses.

"Tell me a story." Xena whispered out groggily as she tried to fight the sleep that was slowly winning the battle over her.

"A story?" Ares asked completely taken aback, he never had to tell someone a story before.

"Yeah..." she yawned out as her tiny hand softly curled around the edge of his vest, "... one of a great battle."

"Alright, let me see here... You've heard about the war in Troy, right?"

She just sluggishly nodded her head against his chest and settled herself more into his warm embrace.

"It's been going on for about five years now and it doesn't look like it is going to stop anytime soon…. which is perfect for me, you know, nothing like two nations pitied against each other to get the blood pumping." he stated, and he could feel her laugh lightly against him. In return, he softly began to run his hand up and down her back.

"Anyway, Menelaus waged war against Troy with the hope of getting back what is rightfully his. His wife was taken by the prince of Troy and that was an insult to the king of Sparta and he led his troops on an expedition to Troy and besieged it. For years they fought, many great warriors have died along the way and the battles..." he stopped suddenly when she shifted a little in his embrace.

He looked down at her and she had her eyes closed, she had fallen asleep in his arms. He could feel her warm, steady breath as it hit against his chest and his arms tightened their hold on her. He didn't know what to do now, he had business to attend to and he needed to fix what Strife had screwed up but he didn't want to wake her and he was actually enjoying just holding her. His mind started to push everything off, they were still going to be there when he was done and he wasn't in any type of rush to deal with their stupidity at the moment. So instead of doing anything at all, he just sat there on his throne with this amazing mortal girl tucked away safely in his arms and he just watched over her for the rest of the night.

Xxxxxxx

Sleepy blue eyes started to slowly work their way open and Xena came to stare at black silken sheets. She sat up in bed and looked wonderingly around the room she was now in but didn't recognize it. Her mind started to quickly go into defense mode, preparing herself for whoever was the one that had brought her to this unknown place when her eyes landed on the beautiful crimson rose that was lying beside her. Her thoughts immediately went back to the night before, to the time she had spent with the War God. She still couldn't believe that he had actually shown up and that she got to see him in person. She looked around the room once more and figured that this must have been his bed chamber and she cautiously made her way out of his bed.

It suddenly hit her that she had in fact spent the entire night in the God of War's temple and she was quite pleased with herself for her accomplishment. But her self praise was short lived when her thoughts drifted to the events that were going to unfold once she set foot back in her village. Her mother was going to be furious with her and she didn't know how she was going to explain where she had been all night. She quickly left the room and soon found her way out of the War Gods temple.

Ares had been watching her movements ever since her eyes fluttered open and he materialized in his bed chamber the moment she was gone. He couldn't figure it out what it was about that child that had struck such a strong cord with him. The entire time he held her in his arms, the only thing he could think about was how he never wanted to let her go, he felt an urgent need to protect her. After mulling his thoughts over a little more he decided to see what the future was going to hold for his little warrior and see whether or not she was going to live up to what she had so boldly claimed was going to happen.

He made a portal appear and looked fifteen years into the future and an image of a tent came into view and soon a raven haired woman walked into the battle tent covered in blood.

_Xena had just successfully won a battle against an opposing foe and she couldn't wait to take that __unbearably __heavy armor off of herself and wash the day away. She made her way over to a chair and sat down on it and started to take off her boots when she felt it. She smiled smugly to herself as she waited for the God who she knew was lingering to show himself. Having gotten both her boots off and seeing that Ares still refused to show himself __unless she acknowledged his presence__, she decided to have some fun with him._

_She took off her gauntlets and let them drop carelessly to the ground next to her boots and she stood up and started to slowly undo her armor … She took off her breastplate and let it clunk to the ground and then teasingly slipped out of her battle leathers. Letting the straps fall ever so slowly from her shoulders, __she then let it__ glide slowly down her body until it got to her waist. She was sure she had Ares' full attention at this point and __she had every intention__ to make him suffer since he was being so stubborn and refused to show himself._

_A voice from outside her tent __put a sudden stop to __her __devilishly tempting__ movements __though__ before she could let her battle leathers fall completely and she pulled it back up and covered her breasts._

_"What is it?!" she asked, annoyed for being interrupted._

_The guard soon entered and saluted her and quickly took notice of her state of dress. She was about to undress and he knew he shouldn't stare but he couldn't seem to manage to break his gaze from her chest as her cleavage was just so openly displayed. Barely being covered by the frail material that she held in place._

_Xena could feel the tension in the air change as she knew that Ares did not like the way her solider was gawking at her. She really didn't like it either, he should know better, but that didn't stop her from wanting to toy with Ares a little more._

_"What is it that you want?" she asked her solider and then walked over to her bed and causally sat down on it and seductively crossed her legs. _

_The man's eyes were just glued to her movements when she started to slowly move her leg up and down the other one. He roamed his eyes hungrily up her curvaceous form and then he got to her eyes. They were looking at him coldly as she sat there waiting to hear what it was he had to say._

_"Um... The men wanted to know what we should do with the dead." _

_"Ours or theirs?"_

_"Both."_

_"See what can be salvaged from their bodies and then burn them."_

_She dismissed him and he quickly left her tent to carry out her orders. Xena looked carefully around the quarters of her tent, she knew he was still there. She sighed out dramatically and then let her battle leathers playfully slip from her upper torso again and it puddled at her waist._

_"Opps." she whispered out and then started to slowly pull the material back up to cover herself once again when a hand came around her wrist and halted her attempt to do just that._

_Ares leaned over her, making her bend further back into the bed, and he leered at her as he let his eyes roam down to her voluptuous breasts and slowly back up to her eyes. She had been teasing him instead of just acknowledging that he was there. What was he going to do with her?_

"_And__ just what__ were you doing with that boy?"_

_"I don't know what you mean." she faked innocence as she propped herself up on her elbows and got comfortable on the bed beneath him._

_"You were flirting with him." he accused as he moved his hand to her breast and began to tease her nipple._

_"I did no such thing." she denied as she slapped his hand away, "If you don't mind, I'll like to take a bath so if you could just..." she shooed him away so she could get up and pushed against his chest._

_He didn't budge though and he just climbed on top of her more, pinning her beneath him as he gently nudged her legs apart and settled himself c__omfortably __between them. He waved his hand over her body and she was soon completely cleaned of all the blood and grime that had covered her skin just moments before._

_"That saved some time."_

_"I say lets skip the foreplay and jump straight to what we both want." he said seductively as he leaned down and started to kiss against her neck._

_"What makes you think__** this**__ is what I want?" she deviously replied while arching more into the War Gods touch._

_"You want this..." __he sweetly contradicted__ as he kissed his way to her chest, "... the way your body trembles at my slightest touch..." he teasingly ran his hand along her side and she shivered from the contact, "... the way you yearn to feel my lips against your skin..." he playfully nipped at her nipple and when her body brazenly curved into his more he took it fully into his mouth, "... the way you desire to be filled by me..." he pushed his enflamed member against her crotch and she moaned out from the contact._

_"I don't know... I thought I saw something that might have been more fulfilling a little while ago." she taunted, knowing just the right buttons to push to unleash what she wanted from him._

_Ares pulled back from her and looked her in the eyes, she was trying to provoke him into losing his control when it came to her. But was she really serious about that pathetic mortal? Would she really want to have him ram his cock into her when he could take her to highs she __had never__ experienced before? He saw the cunning smirk that started to form on her face and he leaned down and captured her lips passionately with his own. He was going to show her that what she wanted was __**him**__, to feel him filling her repeatedly while he made her scream out her pleasurable bliss._

_Within an instant they vanished from her tent and reappeared in his bed chambers in the Halls of War. __Xena could already feel__ the cool sheets on her skin and deciphered that he had gotten rid of her battle leathers __during __their little trip through the ether. He was so sure of himself, of how this night was going to go. She had also taken notice that he was now completely naked also and she moaned at the feel of his cock teasing her entrance. He didn't enter her though, choosing to drive her crazy with his simple movements instead. His kissed his way back to her breasts and generously focused his attention there. She ached to be filled by him and she bucked up into him._

_"Ares..." she moaned out while he ran his engorged shaft along her folds._

_There was a lot of need behind the way she said his name and he couldn't take it anymore. He needed to be inside of her and he pulled his head back and looked up into her gorgeous sapphire eyes and thrust himself into her waiting heat in one deep powerful thrust. She was his __and he made sure to remind her__ of that with each deep plunge of his cock, setting the pace that had her withering beneath him, moaning out his name as he claimed her again and again. The sounds of her ecstasy were only driving him on to having her shatter into a billion pieces in his arms as she reached her climax._

_That was only going to be the beginning though, __he had every intention to make __love to her all night long. He was going to show her that no one could fill her the way he could and that she was his and his alone. No one else was ever going to touch her as intimately as he was and she would yearn for no one else but himself. He changed the angle of his thrusts and he elicited a guttural moan from her, it was one of the sweetest sounds he had ever heard and he kept on with his pace until he had taken her to the point of no return and she cried out with her release._

The images in the portal soon fizzled out of existence and the War God stood there a little shocked at what he had seen. It wasn't the part of them making love that had thrown him through such a loop; it was the way his future self was looking at her. That look in his eyes as if he had the most valuable thing in the world right in front of him. What was she going to become to him, it was apparent that they were going to get to know each other quite well but he could see it was more than that, it wasn't just about the sex.

He had seen something in both of their eyes that had come out while they were together. She was more than just a mere mortal to him and the clear possessiveness that he was showing towards her told him that whatever they were going to share went very deep between them. He thought back to the small child with the bright expressive blue eyes he had held in his arms, the way he had tenderly held her, soothing her while he made her see that she was going to be ok while he was there. How she had curled up in his embrace, trusting him enough to fall asleep in his arms…The overwhelming need to guard her back when Strife had threatened her and how he protectively watched over her in her slumber.

It couldn't be... he didn't think it was possible or that it was ever going to happen. It had been so long, millennia had passed and he had put that notion out of his head long ago. The thought was there now in the back of his mind nevertheless but he refused to label it. No, he was just being foolish with dallying in these wild fantasies. But the idea was festering in his mind and all he could think about was what happened in his temple the night before and what he had just witnessed of what was to come.

She was his mate... The one he had given up on ever finding but it appeared that she had found him. After all this time and she had walked right into his temple, from his first experience with her he knew she was going to be a handful. But he loved a challenge and he was eager to start their little journey together. He wondered how long he would have to wait until she came to him again. Judging by how adamant the little girl was about how things were going to go he figured he would only have to wait till she reached adulthood. That wasn't so bad, it was only a few years away and he had waited this long for her so these next few years would be nothing. But that didn't mean that he couldn't watch over her until then.

The War God made another portal appear and the raven haired child came into view and he immediately frowned when he saw that she was crying. There was a little boy with her who was trying to soothe her.

"Xena, please stop crying... Mother was just upset that you didn't come home last night, she didn't mean anything by her words."

"It's not that Lyceus..." she sniffled a little as she tried to calm herself, "... I left it."

"Left what? Tell me I'll go and get." he encouraged as he softly wrapped his arm around his sister to comfort her.

"You won't be able to get. It will be impossible to find it in his temple and Mother is not going to let us leave that far from the house anytime soon."

"Oh, I'm sorry Xena. What was it that you left behind?"

"The rose the War God had given me. It was his gift to me and I foolishly left it behind."

Lyceus stayed with her for a few more moments but seeing that there was nothing more he could do for her, he left Xena alone in her room.

Ares looked over to the bed where she had slept the night before and saw the rose that she was talking about. He looked back over to the view of his sad Princess and with one gesture of his hand the rose vanished from his bed and appeared beside her.

Xena wiped at her red injected eyes and then the sight of something that wasn't there before had caught her eye and she turned her head to where the object lied. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the rose that was now lying beside her and she hesitantly picked it up. How did it get there? There was a small piece of parchment with it and she picked it up and opened it and read it.

"_A beautiful flower for a beautiful girl." _

_Until next time._

She knew that Ares had sent her the note and the rose. But how did he know, she hadn't seen him when she woke up and he surely must have been busy with something else. She put it off to being one of the things that she was going to have to figure out about him. She was set on being his warrior and she was going to show him that she was exactly what he had been looking for.

The War God closed the portal, satisfied that he had been able to brighten his Princess' spirit. Soon, they were going to be together soon and he couldn't wait until the day she set foot in his temple again. But until that day came he was going to have to occupy himself with less important matters and he left his temple to go straighten out the mess that had been made the night before.


End file.
